The 1963 to 1989 period witnessed a rapid change in Canadian defence matters.
During this period the Canadian government forced the military away from its traditional
ally the United Kingdom and moved it closer to the United States (US). The Canadian
governments of Lester B. Pearson, Pierre Elliott Trudeau, and Brian Mulroney attempted
to create and retain a distinctive military with a truly ‘Canadian’ organization and with
new Canadian military traditions. However, in the process of attempting to create a
distinctive ‘Canadian’ military, all three of these governments moved the Canadian
Forces (CF) closer towards the US military. While US defence and government officials
welcomed an increased defence cooperation between Ottawa and Washington, they were
often not responsible for the burgeoning ties between the US and Canadian armed forces.
Moving the CF closer towards their American counterparts enabled Ottawa to keep its
defence budget relatively stable without any drastic increases because of the promise of
support from the larger US military. More importantly, this movement towards the US
enabled all three prime ministers to continuously assure Washington of Canada’s abilities
to help defend North America and participate in the cooperative NATO defence of
Western Europe. Becoming a ‘strategic liability’ for the US in Western defence would
have had grave consequences for Canadian sovereignty. For the Canadian government
during this period, the only way to ensure Canada did not become a liability was to have
the CF work closely with the US. As a result, Canadian defence policies during the Cold
War strove to ensure that Canada was able to participate with the US in the defence of the
West.